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Rebekah Gave Jacob a Secret Blessing From the Holy Spirit

After Isaac blessed Jacob with stolen goatskins, Rebekah laid her hands on Jacob and spoke a second blessing. The holy spirit finished it for her.

Curated by Arthur · Told by Maggid ·
Table of Contents
  1. The Blessing Isaac Gave and the One He Did Not
  2. The Angels She Called to Accompany Him
  3. When the Holy Spirit Finished Her Sentence
  4. The Words He Would Hear Again at Bethel

The Blessing Isaac Gave and the One He Did Not

Isaac's blessing is the famous one. The goat skins on Jacob's arms, the savory meat in the bowl, the blind man's hands reaching out and feeling the rough skin, the smell of Esau's clothes. Isaac said: "May God give you the dew of heaven and the fat of the earth." He meant those words for Esau, and they landed on Jacob instead, and by the time Isaac realized what had happened it was too late to take them back. What has been blessed is blessed.

The blessing Rebekah gave Jacob afterward is not in the Torah at all.

After the deception was complete, after Isaac had sent Jacob away to Haran with Laban, Rebekah drew Jacob to her and laid her hands on his head. She had been carrying a prophecy since before his birth. She had kept it for decades, acting on it when the moment arrived and the right blessing needed to reach the right son. Now Jacob was about to leave. She was not done.

The Angels She Called to Accompany Him

She invoked the angels. The ones who keep God's servants in all their ways. The ones who bear them up so their feet do not strike stone. She invoked the protection of the One whose name Jacob knew. She asked that every guardian available to the children of the covenant be stationed around her son on the road to Haran, through Laban's house, and back.

She blessed him from her own understanding, from everything she knew about what Jacob was carrying and what was waiting for him. She had arranged the deception that made the blessing possible. She had understood before Isaac that the covenant had to pass through Jacob. She had understood before Jacob that the cost would be exile. She was blessing him out of a knowledge deeper than maternal love, out of a prophetic certainty that she had held for thirty years and never shared with anyone.

When the Holy Spirit Finished Her Sentence

Then the holy spirit spoke through her. The tradition marks this moment carefully: the blessing Rebekah gave was her own, but the blessing that completed it was not. The holy spirit added to her words that God would answer Jacob in his distress, that He would be with Jacob wherever Jacob went, that Jacob would return to his father's house and his father's God would be his God.

The Words He Would Hear Again at Bethel

These were the same words Jacob would hear in his own voice at Bethel, in the dream of the ladder, when God spoke to him directly for the first time. The promise that came to him in a dream on the road had already been spoken over his head by his mother, in private, before he took a single step.

He left not knowing all of it had already been said.

RebekahJacobBlessingHoly SpiritAngels
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From the tradition

Sources

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The texts this telling draws on, in full. Open a card to read inline, or expand it for a wider, quieter read.

Legends of the Jews 6:66Legends of the Jews

The Jewish tradition is rich with imagery of divine guardianship, and one of the most beautiful examples comes to us through the story of Jacob.

Young Jacob, about to begin a journey, perhaps a perilous one. His mother, Rebekah, bestows upon him a powerful blessing. It's not just a simple "good luck," but a profound invocation of angelic protection. She says, "For He shall give His angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy feet against a stone. Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder; the young lion and the serpent shalt thou trample under feet. Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him; I will set him on high, because he hath known my name." According to Ginzberg's Legends of the Jews, this is Rebekah adding her own double blessing to Jacob. imagery for a moment. Angels, not just watching from afar, but actively bearing him up, preventing even the smallest stumble. Treading upon lions and adders – symbols of danger and evil – and emerging unscathed. It speaks to a deep-seated belief in a divine force that actively intervenes on behalf of those who are righteous.

The blessing doesn't end there. The Ruach (spirit) HaKodesh (רוּחַ הַקֹּדֶשׁ), the holy spirit, adds its own layer of assurance. "He shall call upon me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honor him. With long life will I satisfy him, and show him my salvation."

This is a direct promise of divine responsiveness. It's not just about avoiding danger; it's about having a direct line to the divine in times of trouble. It's a promise of honor, a long life, and ultimately, salvation. This echoes the deeper themes readers often find in Jewish texts about the rewards that await those who remain steadfast in their faith.

What does this tell us? Perhaps that the greatest protection isn't about physical strength or cunning, but about the power of faith and the unwavering support of the divine. It's a reminder that even when we face our own "lions and adders," we are not alone. And maybe, just maybe, there are angels bearing us up, even when we don't realize it.

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Legends of the Jews 6:57Legends of the Jews

Rebekah, wife of Isaac and mother of Jacob and Esau, certainly did.

Isaac, old and blind, is about to bestow a blessing – a powerful, almost magical blessing – on his eldest son, Esau. But Rebekah knows this is wrong. It's not just a feeling; according to Legends of the Jews, she receives this knowledge through the ruach (spirit) hakodesh, the holy spirit.

Some might think she’s just playing favorites with her son Jacob. But Ginzberg, in his masterful retelling of the Legends, suggests otherwise. It wasn't simply love for Jacob motivating her; it was a fierce determination to prevent Isaac from making a terrible mistake. This blessing wasn't just some nice words. It was a divinely charged pronouncement. Giving it to the wrong person could have… cosmic consequences.

So, what does Rebekah do? She takes action. She tells Jacob: "This night... this night is special." She describes it as a night when the "storehouses of dew are unlocked," a poetic image hinting at divine abundance. It's a night, she says, when the celestial beings sing Hallel, praises to God. And crucially, she connects it to the future deliverance of the Jewish people from Egypt, when they too, will sing Hallel. Quite a powerful night, indeed! Hallel (הלל) is a Jewish prayer consisting of Psalms 113-118, which is used for praise and thanksgiving.

"Go now," she urges Jacob, "and prepare savory meat for thy father, that he may bless thee before his death." It’s a direct command, a call to action. She adds, appealing to his sense of duty and lineage: "Do as I bid thee, obey me as thou art wont, for thou art my son whose children, every one, will be good and God-fearing--not one shall be graceless." In other words, trust me, Jacob. This isn't just about you; it's about the future generations, your legacy.

Rebekah’s actions are often debated. Was she right to deceive Isaac? Was she manipulating her son? But perhaps, just perhaps, she was acting as an instrument of something larger than herself, guided by that inner knowing, that divine spark. And it certainly makes you wonder about the times in our own lives when we've had a gut feeling, a deep sense of right and wrong, guiding our decisions. Should we trust it? And how far should we go to act on it?

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Book of Jubilees 35:41Book of Jubilees

Some say it's gravity, others dark energy. But what about love? What about a mother's love, strong enough to bind even the most volatile relationships?

The Book of Jubilees, an ancient Jewish text that expands on the stories we find in Genesis, gives us a glimpse of just that with the story of Rebekah, Jacob, and Esau. Remember them? The brothers locked in a lifelong struggle, beginning even before they were born?

Well, in Jubilees 35, we find Rebekah nearing the end of her days. And what's weighing on her heart? Not her own mortality, but the fractured relationship between her sons. She's desperate to ensure peace between them, to heal the wounds that have festered for so long.

So, she calls for Jacob. Imagine the scene: Esau is present, a silent witness to the powerful words about to be exchanged. Rebekah extracts a promise from Jacob. It's not just a casual promise, but a solemn oath. She makes him swear that he will love Esau, that he will harbor no ill will towards him throughout his entire life, desiring only good for his brother. "And I swear unto thee that I shall love him, and not desire evil against him all the days of my life but good only." These are powerful words!

Then, she commands Jacob directly, repeating the very words she had spoken to Esau himself. It’s a powerful, unifying gesture. She wants to make absolutely certain that Jacob understands the gravity of the situation.

Jacob responds, pledging to fulfill her wish. "I shall do thy pleasure; believe me that no evil will proceed from me or from my sons against Esau, and I shall be first in naught save in love only." He commits himself and his descendants to a path of love and reconciliation with Esau. It's a powerful declaration, a commitment to prioritize love above all else.

That night, they ate and drank together. A final meal of sorts. And then, Rebekah, at the ripe old age of three jubilees, one week, and one year (that's 218 years old!), passed away.

What are we to make of this scene? Rebekah’s death is almost overshadowed by the intensity of her final act. She uses her last moments to try and create a lasting peace, a legacy of love to mend the broken bond between her sons. Even on her deathbed, her thoughts were for her children.

Is it naive to think that a promise, even a sworn oath, can truly erase years of conflict? Perhaps. But Rebekah's actions speak to a deeper truth: that love, and the pursuit of peace, are worth fighting for until our very last breath. It's a powerful reminder that even amidst conflict, the possibility of reconciliation, of choosing love, always remains. And maybe, just maybe, that's the most powerful force in the universe after all.

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Legends of the Jews 6:50Legends of the Jews

The Torah tells us that Rebekah, knowing what was right and divinely inspired, took matters into her own hands to make sure that Jacob, not Esau, received Isaac’s blessing. But that wasn't the only blessing Jacob received! According to the Legends of the Jews, when the spirit of the Lord came over Rebekah, "she laid her hands upon the head of Jacob and gave him her maternal blessing. It ended with the words, 'May the Lord of the world love thee, as the heart of thy affectionate mother rejoices in thee, and may He bless thee.'" What a powerful and tender image! Imagine the warmth and love that poured into that blessing.

The tradition turns to Esau's marriages. We know that Esau's choice to marry Canaanite women caused great distress. But did you know just how much? It wasn’t just Rebekah who was troubled. Isaac suffered even more! According to Ginzberg's retelling in Legends of the Jews, Esau's marriages were "an abomination not only in the eyes of his mother, but also in the eyes of his father. He suffered even more than Rebekah through the idolatrous practices of his daughters in-law." Why was this?

The text offers an interesting, even somewhat archaic, explanation, saying it is "the nature of man to oppose less resistance than woman to disagreeable circumstances." It uses the analogy of a bone and an earthen pot, suggesting that man, created from dust, lacks the endurance of woman, formed from bone. Intriguing, isn't it? While this might sound a little strange to our modern ears, it highlights a belief in the different strengths and sensitivities of men and women in ancient times.

The Legends of the Jews tells us that Isaac was made prematurely old by the conduct of his daughters-in-law, and he even lost his sight. Rebekah, having been accustomed to the incense burnt before idols in her childhood home, could bear it under her own roof. Isaac, however, had never experienced such things while living with his parents. "He was stung by the smoke arising from the sacrifices offered to their idols by his daughters-in-law in his own house."

But there's another layer to Isaac's failing eyesight. Remember the story of the Akeidah, the Binding of Isaac? Legends of the Jews also recounts that when Isaac lay bound upon the altar, about to be sacrificed by his father, the angels wept. "And their tears fell upon his eyes, and there they remained and weakened his sight." This adds a poignant dimension to Isaac's suffering, connecting it to one of the most emotionally charged moments in the Torah. His physical blindness becomes a symbol of the deep trauma he endured.

So, what do we take away from this? It’s a reminder that even within the grand narratives of the Torah, there are intimate, human stories unfolding. Stories of maternal love, marital discord, and the enduring impact of both blessings and trauma. It makes you wonder about the unseen burdens and hidden blessings within our own lives and families, doesn't it?

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